The Magical Properties of Love
by driver picks the music
Summary: When Annie Edison was little she dreamed of falling in love. Jeffrey Winger did not. They say to make God laugh tell him your plans. Well it seemed love works the same way.


When Annie Edison was a little girl, she dreamed about someday when she was older meeting a boy and falling in love. It would be magical, and they would love each other and live happily ever after.

When Annie was in high school she found out that it's not always that simple. As she studied the back of Troy Barnes head from her seat in class, and as she stole glances of him from across the cafeteria at lunch, Annie realized that sometimes you can fall for someone without them falling back.

But even after running through that plateglass door, and going to rehab (and the six different reconstruction surgeries) Annie still believed that someday she would find that special guy, and it would be real. No fairytale, or unrequited crush. But real and true love.

When Annie was eighteen she figured out that you can really like someone without really loving them. You can enjoy spending time with them and kissing them and having them sing songs about you. But she also figured out that at the end of the day, that's not always enough. She realized that it's not any more fun for someone to fall for you without you falling back than it is the other way around.

When Annie was nineteen she realized that sometimes love, real and true love, hurts, both physically and emotionally. She had already figured out that she could fall for someone without them falling back, but she hadn't counted on actually falling all the way to _love_ just to have her heart broken before she even had the chance to enjoy it. But as she stood, cradling her hand to her chest and watching the blood run from Jeff Wingers nose (someone should have warned her how much it would hurt to punch someone in the face) she realized just how wrong her six year old self had been.

Sometimes, love isn't magical. Sometimes you love someone who doesn't love you back, and sometimes you love someone who won't let themselves love you back. No matter how you look at it, it really really sucks.

Despite all that, Annie still believed that someday she would find that love she was looking for. Until then she would take the love of the family she had made for herself with her friends. Because she knew that kind of love was rare, and she would do anything for the people that she loved.

Which is why Annie stood in front of some of the people that meant the most to her, and made a speech about respecting each other enough to let each other want what they want. Including Jeff. Even though what he thought he wanted was doomed to failure, Annie loved him enough to let him make that mistake if he thought it would make him happy.

If Jeff was happy, that was good enough for her.

When she's twenty-four years old, Annie realizes that you can love someone so much that your happiness is contingent on theirs. She also understands how much it hurts when it doesn't seem to be that way for the other person.

…...

When Jefferey Winger was a kid, he didn't think about falling in love. He thought about the same kind of things all little boys do. He dreamed of being a rock star, and a race car driver. Superman. But falling in love? Never crossed his mind.

By the time that Jeff made it to high school, he had changed his look and figured out how to dress and do his hair and take care of his skin so that all the girls noticed him. He was never lacking in dates. But while there was plenty of dates for teenaged Jeff, love never factored in.

When Jeff was a hotshot lawyer, there was never a shortage of women in bars eager for a night with the good looking man in the expensive suit. He thought about winning cases and someday making partner and he hoped like hell that nobody found out the truth about his fake degree. But through it all, the only time that love crossed his mind was when he laughed at the saps that he heard about getting divorced, because love wasn't real. His mother thought it was and look where that got her.

When Jeff accidentally started the study group, it had nothing to do with love and everything to do with getting laid and then getting through the next four years so he could go back to his real life. Even as he grew to care and even love his ragtag group of friends and consider them family, he never thought about falling in love.

At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

As Jeff grew as a person, became more open to the idea that love come in all different shapes and styles, he realized that he loved the group of friends he had made more than he had ever thought possible, and all the crazy shenanigans and embarrassing public declarations of love (that wasn't really love but a fierce competitive streak) and getting punched in the face aside, Jeff knew they loved him just as much.

But even still, he never let himself consider the possibility that any of this love could be different than the others, could be more. It wasn't until he stood in that bunker under Greendale and heard two words in his head; _Milady, Milord_ ; and opened that door that he realized the truth.

Love is real. It's real and it's true and it's magical. And if you're lucky, you'll find somebody that will love you just as much as you love them.

…...

When Annie is twenty-five she realizes that the old saying is sometimes true. If you love something let it go, if it's meant to be it will come back to you.

"Would you like to go to dinner? Just you and me?"

Annie smiled up at Jeff. "I thought you would never ask."


End file.
